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no‘Designated Survivor’s’ President Kirkman is a nice guy – and an awful presidenthttp://www.johnvhansen.com/jvh/blog/index.cfm/2017/5/20/Designated-Survivors-President-Kirkman-is-a-nice-guy--and-an-awful-president
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ABC's <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5296406/?ref_=ttfc_fc_tt" target="_blank">"Designated Survivor"</a> strained throughout its first season to show that President Tom Kirkman (Kiefer Sutherland) is a good, decent and refreshingly different type of president. But because the show operates on a superficial level, it's easy to expose the trick. Yes, he's unquestionably – and boringly – a great guy; he loves his family, he treats everyone decently, he listens and learns, and so forth. But just as clearly, he's as bad of a president as Bush, Obama and Trump.
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OK, he's not quite that bad, but since this is a fictional, supposedly inspirational TV show, can't we aim a little higher than "slightly better than actual presidents?"
Much is made of the fact that Kirkman is an independent. After the early episodes, Reason Magazine even said Kirkman is a president libertarians could get behind. But "independent" simply means he's not a member of a political party. By no means does it indicate that he opposes the platforms of the major parties; indeed, his positions are consistently nanny-statist. By not being a member of a party and by not having to run for office, he's above party politics; because of his decency, he's not susceptible to corruption or heavy-handed lobbying. But it's hard to imagine he'd argue with Democrats about their party platform.
The Democrat and Republican parties of "Designated Survivor" aren't sweating the fact that Kirkman isn't one of their own; indeed, they are no doubt happy about the money they are saving. He follows their big-government agendas, and no effort or expenditure is needed.
The little guy, a.k.a. the common citizen, wouldn't notice much difference under a Kirkman presidency compared to Bush, Obama or Trump. Here are a few things that are business-as-usual under the Kirkman administration:
• Police in most states still have the right to legally steal your stuff under civil asset forfeiture laws.
• Prisoners in Gitmo still have their Sixth (speedy trial) and Eighth Amendment (cruel and unusual punishment) rights violated daily.
• Middle Easterners, particularly those who live in areas that terrorists have infiltrated, still fear the sky. The drone bombings continue.
• The health care-insurance-government complex stays in place; health care is pricier and less accessible than it should be.
• The War on Drugs continues -- wasting money, destroying lives and enriching drug cartels.
• The federal debt still counts upward every day.
These are my pet issues, but I challenge you to think of your favorite issues and ask if the Kirkman administration has changed things for the better.
Of course, Congress writes laws; the president only has the legal power to erase or write executive orders. However, as "Designated Survivor" demonstrates, the president always has the power of the pulpit. Indeed, Kirkman uses his likable-fellow status or the skillful maneuvering of staffers Aaron (Adan Canto) and Emily (Italia Ricci) to achieve his policy goals. Throughout the 21 episodes, Kirkman does not address any of the aforementioned issues in any way; they aren't on his radar.
Granted, "Designated Survivor" is not "24"; we don't see every moment of his presidency. But we can safely assume this commander-in-chief did not, for example, end the drone war offscreen. While the issues listed above – and dozens of other issues where the GOP and Dems agree – are never discussed in the mainstream media (which prefers the entertainment value of a Dem-GOP conflict), they would be if someone in a position of power (like the president) took a position contrary to the status quo.
One might argue that those are the tough issues, and the freshman president needs to establish a foundation of trust with other politicians and the American people before he can address them. However, Kirkman has expressed admiration for Lincoln and FDR, which means he's either stuck on the saintly elementary school teachings about those figures, or he genuinely admires them. At any rate, it's safe to say that if something – the drone war, the debt, etc. -- is baked into the fabric of modern American government, he's not going to be a rogue looking to change course.
OK, but surely Kirkman has done some good things, even if on a small scale, right? Sure. In the season finale, he declines to imprison Abe Leonard (Rob Morrow), the reporter who mulls revealing that the feds captured the wrong man in the Capitol bombing that wiped out most of the government. Instead, he asks that Abe hold off on publishing the story for a while, appealing to his shared sense (Abe's a mainstream journo, after all) that it's bad for America if the American government looks bad. A picture of an ailing FDR – judiciously not published at the time -- tips the scale. Certainly, it's decent of Kirkman to not throw his potential political enemy in a cage like Lincoln might've done. But even better, considering the power he wields, would be if he worked to overturn the law allowing imprisonment of journalists on national security grounds.
(Interestingly, President Palmer does imprison a journalist in Season 2 of "24." He's another example of a president we are asked to root for mostly because he is a protagonist. To be fair, when he battles the warmongers later that season, it's easy to pull for him. But he also allows Nina to legally murder Jack in Season 2, and allows Jack to wrongfully be labeled an enemy of the state in Season 3. As with Kirkman, we're repeatedly given the impression that Palmer is a great guy -- mainly because Jack respects him so much -- but his body of work doesn't hold up to scrutiny. Continuing the "24" comparison, Maggie Q's FBI agent Hannah Wells is the Jack Bauer to Kirkman's Palmer. And the fact that Wells respects Kirkman helps to trick a viewer into thinking Kirkman is wonderful.)
Many of Kirkman's good actions come off that way because his opponent is cartoonishly evil. Early in the season, he uses the federal strong arm to stop Michigan Governor John Royce (Michael Gaston) from persecuting Muslims. The way-too-suave Peter MacLeish (Ashley Zukerman), who lands the VP job, turns out to be part of the cabal that blew up the Capitol and is looking to take over the government.
The gun-control bill episode tries to play a good-evil dichotomy, too, by pitting Kirkman against Montana Governor Jack Bowman (Mark Deklin), who opposes gun bills on principle (The principle being that he's the governor of Montana). The audience never learns the bill's specifics, and Kirkman himself admits it's a flawed bill, yet every music, framing and staging strategy is used to play up Kirkman and his allies as the righteous ones. For a viewer not already in the gun-control camp, it comes off empty. For no viewer does it play as nuanced.
In the finale, Kirkman's administration – thanks entirely to the Bauer-esque Wells – exposes and dispatches the actual Capitol bomber, and then we see "Designated Survivor" really straining. Kirkman gives a speech that gets applause on par with President Whitmore's "Today, we celebrate our Independence Day!" But not only is it much blander – Kirkman has cultivated a grandfatherly Fireside Chats manner – there's nothing much worth celebrating.
Yes, they caught the actual terrorist and set the record straight about the original suspect (who – woopsie! – died in prison in the meantime). But the organization led by Patrick Lloyd (Terry Serpico) is still very much in place. As the Onion AV Club points out, the finale's optimism is unearned. And if we're to assume "Designated Survivor" takes place in the real world, the Kirkman administration is now in the position of waging a War on Terror not only in the Middle East, but also against Lloyd's domestic group. The citizenry on "Designated Survivor" would more likely be pessimistic, as they watch the odds of the wars ending in their lifetime becoming more and more remote.
All of this having been said, Season 2 could turn "Designated Survivor" from an inch-deep show into something brilliant. All the writers have to do is have Hannah discover a recording from before the Capitol bombing of Kirkman conspiring with Lloyd. It would explain a lot – from Kirkman supposedly not suspecting the shifty-as-hell Homeland Security Advisor Jay Whitaker (Richard Waugh) of being the traitor inside the White House, to the fact that Lloyd's cultists are convenient patsies. It would significantly deepen Kirkman's character without contradicting any of his actions in Season 1, as it was all part of the plan to gain power.
It would instantly make him the greatest villainous commander-in-chief on TV since "House of Cards' " President Underwood (and don't worry about losing a hero; the show already has a great one in Hannah Wells). What's more, positioning Kirkman as the villain would make Season 2 less creepy than Season 1's zombie-like celebration of the status quo.
TelevisionDesignated SurvivorSat, 20 May 2017 00:47:00 -0700http://www.johnvhansen.com/jvh/blog/index.cfm/2017/5/20/Designated-Survivors-President-Kirkman-is-a-nice-guy--and-an-awful-presidentFirst episode impressions: ‘Designated Survivor’http://www.johnvhansen.com/jvh/blog/index.cfm/2016/9/30/First-episode-impressions-Designated-Survivor
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Two episodes into its run, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5296406/?ref_=nv_sr_1" target="_blank">"Designated Survivor"</a> (10 p.m. Wednesdays, ABC) continues to pay lip service to the idea of a president who is in over his head. Indeed, President Tom Kirkman ("24's" Kiefer Sutherland) SHOULD be overwhelmed by this job that he's thrust into after the 10 people above him in the line of succession are killed when the Capitol blows up during a State of the Union speech.
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Unable to change clothes after being whisked from a conference room where he's holed up as the "designated survivor," Kirkman -- the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development – is whisked to an underground bunker where the heads of the military and surveillance departments are gathered. He's still wearing a Cornell sweatshirt, jeans and glasses that presidential speechwriter Seth Wright (Kal Penn) says are "unpresidential." The top military general and adviser, Harris Cochrane (Kevin McNally), openly calls Kirkman a "figurehead."
In the next 24 hours (no pun intended, although the "24" similarities are very much present), Kirkman proceeds to 1) call off the Navy on attacking Iran, 2) use diplomacy with the Iran ambassador to get its fleet to back off in the Strait of Hormuz, 3) resist attacking an Al Qaida spinoff group that Cochrane is "75 percent sure" is the perpetrator of the bombing, and 4) get the rogue Michigan governor to call off the police he had ordered to arrest the entire Muslim population of Dearborn.
This, then, is the point of "Designated Survivor." It's not about a man in over his head, but rather it's a fantasy story that the TV viewing public no doubt craves in 2016 (high ratings suggest this is the case): Kirkman is not an imperial president. Cochrane is the imperialist, to the degree that he even conspires with one of the president's aides, Aaron Shore (Adan Canto), to remove Kirkman from office. (Assassination is implied, but not stated.)
This is a direct contrast from the reality in 2016, when U.S. voters will likely elect a president with a track record of extreme imperialism, at a time when polls remarkably show that a plurality of military officers and enlisted personnel favor a third-party candidate who is anti-intervention. A presidential-military clash perhaps looms, but in the opposite fashion of how it's portrayed on "Designated Survivor."
So far, it's a stretch to say Kirkman is a constitutional president, although I hope upcoming episodes delve into this further. When Michigan Gov. John Royce (Michael Gaston) declines Kirkman's request to call off the police from arresting people because they are Muslim, Kirkman calls in his legal advisers, who suggest a Presidential Proclamation or an Executive Order. Ultimately, Kirkman chooses a bluff – he tells Royce there are undercover federal agents among those arrested, and if he doesn't release everyone, he'll be charged with impeding a federal investigation. That's not ambiguous even to the thick-skulled governor, so Kirkman gets his way.
We get a scene where Kirkman calls the parents of a Muslim boy beaten to death by the police, and he also visits the Capitol ruins to personally thank the rescue workers for their service. That shows he's a good-hearted person. But I'm interested to find out if he'll seek justice for the boy in Michigan. While it might take a constitutional scholar to work out the details of how this would be done, the Constitution is clear that individual rights trump state's rights, and indeed, that's a primary reason why the U.S. has a federal government.
I'd like to see "Designated Survivor" explore a legal case where the police officer and the governor are put on trial. Much like the concept of a non-imperial president, it would be a fantasy to show the justice system working effectively in a police-brutality case, but it's a fantasy we desperately need to see. When the police investigate themselves and clear themselves of wrongdoing, many people feel helpless; "Designated Survivor" could possibly map out another legal course. It will be most satisfying if it does so within the reality of the Constitution and legal theory.
Created by David Guggenheim, "Designated Survivor" has a deft touch so far when exploring these hot-button issues. While I have used the word "fantasy" to describe it, the show doesn't have a Pollyanna outlook. There's an overhead shot of Kirkman standing in the Oval Office, wearing a perfectly cut suit (even though he borrowed it from a White House staffer), having successfully reined in Cochrane. As a viewer, I sense the power of his position, and I get the feeling that Kirkman does, too. He's not a power-seeker, but he does hold power now, and some theorize that power inevitably corrupts.
Less appealing is the idea that there might be gamesmanship between the two major political parties – the Republicans' Congressional designated survivor, the ridiculously yet wonderfully named Kimble Hookstraten (Virginia Madsen), researches Kirkman online at episode's end. This could be innocent, but I got a "digging up dirt" vibe. It would be nice if "Designated Survivor" presented a post-corruption government, but in fairness, the corruption is a little too baked into D.C. even for the wiping out of 99 percent of the leadership to eliminate it. Indeed, such an event would likely make the police and spy states more powerful than ever.
Additional wrinkles to the narrative might come from the Capitol ruins. An FBI forensics scientist, Hannah Wells (Maggie Q), believes the dud explosive device found at the site (which leads to the "75 percent sure" assessment of whodunit) was meant to be found by the investigators. She also makes an ominous point: In the wake of terror attacks, there's usually an inordinate amount of chatter among the terror networks being watched by the FBI. In this case, there isn't; thus, she believes the Capitol is the first of a string of planned attacks.
Oh, and Hannah's husband is probably buried in the rubble somewhere; episode two ends on a cliffhanger where a survivor is found. Another possible wrinkle could be that one of the 10 people above Kirkman in the line of succession will be found alive, and that will lead to a legal challenge for the presidency. If that survivor ends up being a war hawk in favor of interning Muslims, "Designated Survivor" might get a little too hoary for my tastes.
But so far, it has found a good balance. It shows the stark reality of a terror attack on the Capitol and a quick change in the presidency, while also presenting viewers with the appealing-if-illusory concept of a people's president who isn't hungry for war.
TelevisionDesignated SurvivorFri, 30 Sep 2016 11:22:00 -0700http://www.johnvhansen.com/jvh/blog/index.cfm/2016/9/30/First-episode-impressions-Designated-Survivor